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A Guide to the New Riley Hopkins Upgrades

The Best of the Best

One of the core values at Ryonet is to “be the best at being better.” At the onset of every day, each team from Ryonet is challenged to hold up that value and constantly look for a better approach, product, or process to offer our customers. Ryonet has proven time and time again that a standard exists to be pushed, and good enough is never the end of the search. On top of it all, stands the Riley Hopkins legacy. Steady and sturdy. Known for its quality and popularity throughout the industry for 35 years. Partnered with Ryonet since 2005 and an official brand under the company since 2012, the collaboration of the past nine years has proven an explosive journey to the top for both brands.

“We got into press manufacturing in 2009 because we wanted to give screen printers a good quality manual press for a good price. So with a few saws, welders, drill presses, and a shoe string budget we started making the Silver Press in a barn, literally. The Silver Press resulted in helping over 20,000 screen printers get started in the trade. Like Ryonet, these screen printers took the budget they had and bought an affordable tool which they used to print millions of shirts. It worked well as an entry level manual press, but here at Ryonet we asked, how can we make the entry level manual press easier than ever to own and use, while still maintaining a high level of quality and longevity?

Fortunately, Ryonet’s commitment to quality and innovation has taken us light years from the barn. With the challenge at hand, our team got to work. Using solid works, we modeled design after design to make the most durable press we could, at an affordable price. Next, we used our state of the art Trumph Laser and CNC equipment to create custom parts with extreme precision and efficiency. Finally, with careful hands trained by Riley Hopkins himself, we assemble the components for each unit, one at a time.”

– Ryan Moor

Since the first connection between Riley Hopkins Screen Printing Machines and Ryonet, there have been over 50 improvements to the presses. Innovation has always been the bottom line, and the resulting presses have only grown more attractive, dependable, sturdy, and efficient.

This past year saw the latest in developments from the Riley Hopkins press line. With an updated color scheme, new registration gates and clamps made entirely from solid aircraft grade aluminum, and the release of a brand new line of pro table top presses, the Riley Hopkins screen printing press is the best it’s ever been.

What’s changed?

Color

Blue and green has long been a symbol of Riley Hopkins presses, dating back to the re-start of Riley’s production in the early 2000s, but this year saw a change in the legacy. The blue became black, and green became the primary color of Ryonet’s choice, from Riley Hopkins to ROQ [S.Roque]. This new color provides a sharper contrast and makes it easier for screen printers to get their shop to that color-coordinated ideal.

Registration Heads, Gates and Bolts

As a standard, the Riley Hopkins line has always used cast aluminum for its registration systems, but, staying true to value, there’s been another step up. Starting in August, 2014, registration parts are now made from solid machined aircraft grade aluminum, matching the rest of the press to its registration system. The difference between cast and milled aluminum can be found in their respective durability. Sometimes castings can contain unforeseen flaws which weaken them, causing the aluminum to crack when over-tightened. Solidly machined aluminum doesn’t have the same issues and is more durable against the constant steady use that drives a print shop to success.

Two more improvements to the system involve more heavy duty nylon registration bolts and updates to the registration gate design itself. The previous Riley Hopkins cast aluminum gate was shallow and used only 9/16” nylon bolts to hold it’s registration. For the upgrades, Ryonet’s manufacturing team designed the new milled aluminum gates to be both deeper and thicker, allowing them to hold tighter registration with much higher reliability during printing. The bolts were also replaced with new 1/2″ heavy duty black nylon registration bolts, made specifically to be more durable, and less prone to warping or snapping. With the combination of improvements, Riley Hopkins presses are now some of the most consistent and durable presses on the market.

Riley JR.

The unveiling of the Riley JR. also sees the end of another era, the discontinuation of Ryonet’s Silver Press. Many have noticed it on its way out, as Ryonet has been transitioning customers to the new table top presses. Until the Riley JR.’s release, back in March, Riley Hopkins had two lines of free-standing manual presses, and any customer’s entry-level press needs were taken care of by the Silver Press. With the option to add micro-registration at an additional cost, the Silver Press had a following, and printers around the world found the table-top press an excellent companion for a beginning screen printer’s journey. But, it wasn’t without it’s flaws. Now, with the Riley JR.’s integrated micro-registration on multi-station units and three times stronger build, the bar has been set higher. The change heralds a renewed focus on Riley Hopkin’s presses. Now that the Silver Press is being replaced, Riley Hopkins will be taking over across the board, covering all manual press levels offered by Ryonet. The very newest release, finishing out the table-top line, will be the 1×1 and 4×1 press coming out later this month. The presses are made of steel instead of the aluminum of the Silver Press and able to hold extra large frames. They also include the same milled aircraft aluminum head, clamp, and deeper gate upgrades as all the other Riley Hopkins press lines. These new little presses pack in the features to make for a very professional starter press.

But this isn’t the end… Ryonet’s continued focus to “be the best at being better” paints a clear picture of the future ahead; full of innovation and improvement. Be on the lookout for the next “best”, because the best just got better.